GOP Congressman Once Arm-Wrestled Vladimir Putin And Lost

ReutersRussia's President Vladimir Putin fishes in the Yenisei River in Siberia as he makes a tour together with Prince Albert II of Monaco, August 13, 2007. REUTERS/RIA Novosti/KREMLIN

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said in an interview aired Thursday that he arm-wrestled Russian President Vladimir Putin in the early 1990s — and he lost his challenge.

Rohrabacher told California radio station KPCC that he met with a "group of young political leaders" soon after the fall of the Soviet Union. Rohrabacher, who was first elected to the House in 1989, invited Putin, then the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, and the other politicians to play a game of touch football.

Putin accepted, along with two others. And afterward, they ended up at a bar:

"So we went out and played touch football. And Scooter Libby was one of the players, and a bunch of my right-wing friends were there. And so we all went over to this pub afterwards, the Irish Times pub. [...]

"We were having a little bit too much to drink, I guess. But anyway, we started arguing about who won the Cold War, et cetera. And so we decided to settle it like men do when they’ve had too much to drink in the pub. And so we got down to these arm-wrestling matches. And I ended up being paired off with Putin. And he’s a little guy. But boy, I'll tell you, he put me down in a millisecond. He is tough. He's just, bing! His muscles are just unbelievable."